ISRAEL: Perquisites for Polygamists
Monday, Jun. 13, 1949
- Rabbi Gershom Ben Judah ("Light of the Exile"), who, around the year 1000, at a synod in Western Germany, banned polygamy for French and German Jews
Yemenites disagree:
- Yemenite, Monogamist Zacharia Gluska, rose to defend the morals of the sect.
- "The Torah," he protested, "does not forbid polygamy." Glaring at his Mapai colleague, he shot back: "We don't recognize it as immoral to keep wives at home. It is immoral to have one wife at home and a few other wives on the outside."
- The men of Kenya were worried: a new government bill threatened to restrict their right to marry as many wives as they could afford. Though polygamy would remain legal, according to legislation that was debated in Nairobi's Parliament last week, a man would be required to get permission from his first wife before marrying a second one.
Add Comment